(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Time now for StoryCorps and a conversation from their Brightness in Black project. Fifty-five years ago today, "Soul Train" aired its first nationally televised episode. Pam Brown Bryant was the show's main dance coordinator, responsible for finding young dancers. Bryant had a day job at the LA Parks Department, which is how she met dancer Thelma Davis Martin as a teenager. They spoke at StoryCorps.
PAM BROWN BRYANT: No one here in Los Angeles knew what "Soul Train" was. So I held interviews at the parks. One audition we had about 500 people show up. And Don Cornelius, host of "Soul Train," he says, well, where did you get all these kids? And I said, well, you never told me how many you needed.
THELMA DAVIS MARTIN: That's the audition where I was.
BRYANT: Right. And after the very first taping, now it's 2 in the morning.
T MARTIN: In the morning.
BRYANT: So my brothers and I, we piled kids in Volkswagens and dropped them at their front doors, and we had to come back to the studio at 9 a.m. the next day.
T MARTIN: You know, the dancers on the show all refer to you as the mother of "Soul Train." Things that we couldn't talk to our mothers and our fathers about, we would bring them to you. And you treated us with kindness and discipline.
BRYANT: It was important for me to tell the dancers, I bet you a dime to a doughnut hole that your grandmother is watching "Soul Train" and seeing you. So these are the rules - you're going to be respectful of everyone. You're going to stay in school and we're not going to be chewing gum, OK?
T MARTIN: You'd walk around with that little Styrofoam cup, taking gum from us. I am 73 years old, and to this day, I do not chew gum.
BRYANT: (Laughter) You were a standout, Thelma, because of the way you carried yourself.
T MARTIN: But I was so nervous and such a wallflower. In my childhood, I was bullied terribly. And so I used dance as a savior. It was where I could go without the judgment. "Soul Train" was the most amazing place that I had ever been. Everything there was Black - the host, the grips, the cameramen, makeup.
BRYANT: You know, we taped eight months out of the year for 35 years. And I was there every weekend, except when I gave birth. I had my son. The only time.
T MARTIN: That's a good reason for not going.
BRYANT: Yeah.
T MARTIN: So how would you like to be remembered?
BRYANT: That she gave a damn about us.
T MARTIN: And that's why we love you.
M MARTIN: "Soul Train" dancer Thelma Davis Martin, speaking with Pam Brown Bryant for StoryCorps Brightness in Black project. Bryant was the dance coordinator for the entire 35-year national run of "Soul Train," most of it while still working with the LA Parks Department. Their interview is archived at the Library of Congress. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.